Family, Life and Choices

Life is short may be a cliché, yet that is only because it is so true. It does seem like just yesterday our children were little ones and I wrote the poems for Motherhood.

Life is filled with mundane and obstructive obstacles that make it impossible to do things we want to do. People often say it is easy, simply make the time. Yet, when someone isn’t sure how he or she is going to come up with the funds to pay the overdue electric bill or is scrounging in the couch cushions to find quarters to buy milk, or has no clue how he or she will pay almost five bucks a gallon to fuel the car to go to work – finding the funds to travel cross country to visit family isn’t a possibility.

Yet, when the opportunity arises and you are able to do those things you most want, embrace the opportunity!

That’s what I intend to do in about two weeks, when our daughter and only granddaughter come for a 3 ½ week visit, traveling from Alaska.

As my husband will contest, I spend far too much time on the computer. The other night he remarked how I was always hooked up to the thing – which is true. Even when watching television at night, I surf on my laptop.

But when my daughter and granddaughter arrive in a few weeks, the computers (both of them) go off. I plan to embrace this rare and precious opportunity and fully enjoy these two precious gifts.

Because one thing I have learned in this mid-journey – life really is short.

Paypal, Censorship and Free Speech

Let’s forget about Paypal for a minute, and not argue if their action was censorship or not.

I want to talk about free speech.

During my recent travels through the blogs, reading what others have to say on the subject, there is one thing that makes my head want to explode.

I can’t believe the number of bloggers who profess to be strong proponents of free speech – and then in the next sentence state that stories with the banned content have no value, therefore not worth getting upset about.

Holy crap, really? Sorry guys, A true proponent of free speech doesn’t discriminate. To do so would in essence violate the spirit of free speech.

It is okay if you don’t believe the banned erotica should be afforded the same protection under free speech. But please, save the phony “I am a strong proponent of free speech.”

Reading the Blogs, on Paypal Censorship,Pornography and Erotica

Generally, I hate garage sales. But that’s what I did this weekend, beginning on Friday. Fortunately, I have wireless, so I spent most of the weekend in the garage, surfing with my laptop, when not chatting with our neighbors and shoppers.

I confined my surfing to blogs discussing Paypal’s recent censorship of online booksellers.

Some people claimed it wasn’t censorship. But according to the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, censorship is to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable.

Ummm….isn’t that what Paypal did?

Another thing I learned, some people view all erotica as pornography. At least he referred to recently censored stories as pornography. The “he” is a writer. He claimed to be a champion of free speech, yet went on to say he didn’t feel the need to get all worked up about Paypal’s actions – not over a bunch of smut.

I suppose I wouldn’t find his words so disturbing if he wasn’t a writer. I guess I have this idealistic notion that all writers will feel as passionate as I - that there is something inherently wrong when an entity in power tries to suppress free speech - regardless of the perceived literary value of the piece.

PayPal Censoring Erotica Writers – Who will they censor next?

I live in Arizona, a notably conservative, right-leaning, gun toting state. Arizonians are quick to defend their Constitutional rights to bear arms and freedom of religion.

Yet, I suspect they won’t be outraged over Paypal’s recent censorship bullying, forcing sites like Bookstrand and Smashwords to pull certain erotica from their sites – fiction that discusses taboo, yet not necessarily illegal activity.

Since the stories are icky, and about immoral activities, isn’t Paypal doing us all a favor? Big deal, so some pervs won’t get to read their trash. Right? After all, as a business, Paypal has the right to refuse to do business with people they don’t like. Isn’t that as American as free speech?

Well, what happens if Paypal owners have a change of perspective, and feel Christian literature is equally detrimental to society? (I wouldn’t be surprised to find a number of atheists who already agree with that sentiment.)

In my opinion, book burning (even virtual book burning) is dangerous, regardless of the books – the Bible or erotica.

Paypal is not just censoring illegal pornography – they are censoring material they find distasteful. Should Paypal be setting itself up as the moral police, to protect us all from material they believe is obscene? Until 1936, literature discussing birth control was deemed obscene in the United States. According to Paypal guidelines, a number of mainstream romance writers would be censored. Do you really want your credit card company telling you how to spend your money, and what you can read?

What next, will Paypal close your account if you speak up about its overreach? When I wrote for Demand Studios, the only form of payment they offered was through Paypal. If Paypal closed our accounts, that meant we couldn’t get paid. Paypal had us by the financial balls, especially considering the state of the economy. We couldn't afford to cross them.

While some will argue Paypal has the right to decide who they want to do business with, I disagree in this case, because of Paypal’s size and online power. Corporations are overreaching, deciding who should be our president, and what we can read.

In my opinion, any corporation that has the power to silence an industry and hault the exchange of ideas and free speech is far more dangerous than reading fiction.

Rick Santorum Part of the Fiscal Problem

In this Republican primary process, my home state of Arizona is coming up to bat.

In recent years, my moderate political views began leaning to the left, mostly because the far right has pushed me there.

One prime example is Rick Santorum, who (if he had his way) would set woman’s rights back decades.

Yet, I am beginning to suspect Santorum’s in-your-face, unapologetic social views at this particular time might be Santorum’s strategy to keep voters from looking too close at his fiscal policies.

For a party that yammers on about personal responsibility and fiscal conservatism, where is the outrage over the fact Santorum took $100,000 in taxpayer’s dollars from a school district to home school his kids? Forget the fact he didn’t even live in the district at the time, and taking the money might be considered fraud – I would be as outraged if he actually lived in the school district.

We homeschooled our kids for four years and never asked for a dime. The only thing we took from our school district was textbooks – which we returned.

Maybe millionaire Santorum technically had the right to the money (had he actually lived in the district, which he didn’t) it is just an example of another player milking the system. In my opinion, the programs that provide public services aren’t the problem - it is people like Santorum who selfishly manipulate the system for their own personal benefit.

I don’t want to get rid of social programs that help single mothers put food on the table. Yet, I want to do something about those single moms that milk the system by intentionally getting pregnant to get a bigger welfare check.

Rick Santorum, in my opinion, is of the same ilk as those scamming single moms, who put into jeopardy struggling American families who sincerely need our help and are just trying to make it.

Jeremy Lin and Racist Terms

I’m not a big sports fan, yet even non-sports nuts, like myself, can’t help but be carried away by stories like Jeremy Lin. This apparently nice and bright young man comes out of nowhere and blows everyone off the court.

My late father-in-law was a big Laker’s fan, and it took me a great amount of effort to bite my tongue and not disparage his favorite team, as I had little respect for a group with someone like Kobe Bryant as its favored son. Knowing Lin whooped Kobe’s butt made me smile, especially since Bryant was so dismissive of Lin in an interview.

Recently my father-in-law’s cousin, Jason Kapono, was signed with the Lakers, so I am giving the Lakers a bit of slack these days. Actually, Jason’s grandfather was my father-in-laws first cousin – who happened to sing the Hawaiian Wedding Song at our wedding, back in 1976.

But I digress…..

Back to the new rising star, that is Jeremy Lin. This morning the news was about some young employee at ESPN getting fired for using the headline, “Chink in the Armor” when writing about Lin.

At first I was horrified at the reporter’s blatant racism…and then I had to step back a moment, and ask myself if this was a clueless reporter, who thought chink simply meant a crack or break…or if he was aware the word was also used as derogatory racist slang. Considering his age, it was possible he had not heard the term. I don't think I've heard it used in the last 30 plus years. It was fairly common during the Vietnam era.

The reason I was forced to step back, was that I once wandered into a similar mine field.

A number of years ago, a black cat adopted us. For me, he was the image of the stereotypical Halloween Cat. One name I considered giving him was Jack (for Jack-o-Lantern), yet a neighbor had a cat with that name, and Jack did some serious damage to my favorite love seat. Therefore, Jack was off the table.

I then decided on Spooky…Spooky the Halloween Cat.

When our daughter came to visit months later, she was quite shocked at our cat’s name.

“Mom, you’ve never been racist, I can’t believe what you named your cat!”

My reaction…what are you talking about?

She then reminded me of the racist term Spook, applied to black people. Spook was never a word in my vernacular, and when I looked at our black cat, I saw a spooky Halloween kitty. Never ever, not once, did I look at our Spooky and imagine a black person, and choose his name based on the racist term. Spooky has remained Spooky the Halloween Cat, and I sell a line of greeting cards using that name, with our Aussie, Lady.

All of this made me wonder if that writer used that word because the crude slang version never entered his mind – nor did he associate it with Lin’s race.

I have no clue, but I do wonder.

As for Jeremy Lin, he has behaved with great class and dignity. I am not particularly wowed by Lin because of his race, yet I do understand how those of Asian ancestry take special pride in his accomplishments.

I simply love the fact he appears to be a genuinely nice guy, and not yet spoiled by all that goes with such fame. I hope all this attention doesn’t tarnish him, for he is a refreshing change.

I just may become a sports nut.

I Must’ve Pissed Someone Off at Demand Media Studios

I feel a bit like Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense.

One of my DS friend asked what happened, as my posts had all disappeared from the Demand Media Forum. When you piss off the Demand Media Studios gods (Jordan) you get locked out from the forum, normally a 30 day time out.

I never got a notice about a grounding, and I could still see my own posts, and make new ones. So I assumed she was wrong.

Yet, after some of the recent comments she made on the forum, and the responses of the other members, it seems that I am the only one who can see my old and new posts.

In one way I am rather pissed. I can still see posts of two other members who effectively reamed Demand Studios Media last week. Not sure what I did that merited a time out – especially considering those posts remain.

I suppose DS did me another favor. I mentioned in a previous post it was really time to move on from the DS forums. I guess this just helps me move on a little faster.